Mon Repos

The villa was built as a summer residence for the English Commissioner Thomas Maitland, and his Greek spouse, Corfiot Nina Palatianou, in 1828–1831, although they had to vacate the villa soon afterwards when Maitland was sent to serve in India. The villa was rarely used as a residence for the British governors. In 1833, it housed a school of fine arts, while in 1834,

the park was opened to the public. Empress Elisabeth of Austria stayed in the palace in 1863. Here she fell in love with the island, where she later built the Achilleion Palace. After the union with Greece in 1864, the palace was granted to King George I of the Hellenes as a summer residence. He named the villa Mon Repos. The royal family used it as a summer residence up to the end of monarchy in 1967. The palace became derelict, but was restored in the 1990s. Several royal births have taken place at the palace, including those of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 10 June 1921, and Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark on 10 July 1965.